Ascent of Big Pryor Mountain on 2011-07-20

Ascent Trip Report

I approached Big Pryor from Hwy 310 and the town of Bridger. From Bridger drive south about 3 miles, cross the Clark Fork Yellowstone River and in another .5 mile turn left onto signed, paved, Big Pryor Mountain Road. Zero your odometer and at 2.0 miles cross the railroad tracks, at 12.3 miles turn left at a cross roads, at 15.1 miles enter the Crow Indian Reservation where the road gets rougher, at 16.6 miles go straight, at 18.8 pass a nice ranch on your right, and at 22.1 exit the Crow Indian Reservation and enter the Custer National Forest. At 22.7 pass a mpa kiosk and pick up a map, at 22.8 pass the Sage Campground, and at 30.0 miles turn right on a lesser road signed Tie Flat Road. Go .1 mile and turn right on signed 21041 road and go another .2 mile up to the forest, elevation 7,160. I parked there, but could have driven another .25 mile up to elevation 7,400 at another crossroads.

I hiked up the road to elevation 7,400 where there is a crossroads where 2 roads go right and one left. I walked back and forth on these roads looking for a trail going up the mountain. I finally gave up and just headed up the slope through the forest. I clibed about 200 ft before I found a nice trail and I follwoed this trail as it switchbacked up the mountain. This trail goes to the "ice cave" feature on the topo which is just below the summit. The trail kind of disappears near the top, but that is ok because it is just a short walk up a grassy slope to the high point. From the ice cave high point I hiked the mile west to the Shriver BM because it looked just as high as the ice cave high point. Nice walk through short grass and wild flowers.

Great views from the summit. I followed the trail all the way down to the 7,400 fot elevation where the crossroads are located. The lower part of the treail has some dead fall across the trail, but not bad. to locate the trail from the crossroads looking at the Big Pryor slope, go left about 100ft (I assembled a cairn with 3 large white rocks) and then bushwhack up slope about 100 ft where you should find the trail. The bushwhacking is short knee high brush on the right side of a small creek on your left. Don't go into the creek area, just go up through the brush along side the creek and you should be able to find the trail. The brush ends where the forest begins and you should be able to find the trail in this area. After the hike I added East Pryor to the activities for the day.

Summary Total Data

Elevation Gain:

1729 ft / 527 m

Distance:

6.2 mi / 10 km

Route:

East Side

Trailhead:

7057 ft / 2150 m

Route Conditions:

Road Hike, Unmaintained Trail, Open Country

GPS Data for Ascent/Trip

GPS Waypoints - Hover or click to see name and lat/longPeaks: climbed and unclimbed by Dennis PoulinClick Here for a Full Screen MapNote: GPS Tracks may not be accurate, and may not show the best route. Do not follow this route blindly. Conditions change frequently. Use of a GPS unit in the outdoors, even with a pre-loaded track, is no substitute for experience and good judgment. Peakbagger.com accepts NO responsibility or liability from use of this data.